Deposit for builder

[Creamegg18]

I had a quote for some tiling work which came around £11.5k. Builder wants around £5.5k for the materials. His company has excellent online reviews but I’m wary of parting with such a large sum of money upfront and he doesn’t take payment via credit card for the materials.

I would be fine paying a much less deposit and the rest upon completion/during the works which will take two weeks. Thoughts please?

Pay the supplier directly perhaps, against an invoice for your delivery address?
It sounds like a big job, have you seen any reference jobs?

Could you pay the supplier direct? So if the builder disappears at least you’ll have the materials?

Perfectly normal

The builder has his own tiling company where you buy the tiles so I think he orders the materials/tiles from abroad.

His company’s terms and conditions states a 15% deposit is required for orders over £1k which is much less than £5.5k that he’s asking upfront. I mentioned this in my email reply but he has yet to respond.

I wpuldnr pay 5k upfront. On delivery of materials maybe ?

That's is a lot upfront. To give you an idea, we recently completed a loft conversion with a new bathroom and lots of tiling. Our plumber mentioned having a tab of sorts with suppliers up to £10-20k. We paid in 2 stages after each milestone was met. Not before.

Check them out on companies House to see how the business is doing.

Why on earth would you pay above their OWN T&C's??? If its 15%- that is all I'd pay. The fact they are asking for more though, I'd look elsewhere. I've spent 2yrs renovating and have had all manner of trades- roofers, builders, tilers, electricians, plumbers plus about 10 more trades. Not 1 has asked for payment up front!